Prior Art
In the production of petroleum crude from subsurface formations containing highly viscous crude, it has become the practice to inject into the formation a steam or hot fluid for the purpose of increasing the temperature of the formation, thus increasing the mobility of the crude so that it may flow from the formation into a producing well. The steam or hot fluid is injected down the wellbore from the earth surface through a cased well which is cemented to the formation and perforated at the location where production is desired. After the casing has been placed in the well and the perforations have been completed, it is necessary to run a packing means into the well to seal the annulus above the producing zone from the production or injection zone so as to insure that the hot or steam fluids are directed into the well. Inflatable packers are known that can be transported down the cased well and self-setting slip-type steam packers are known as for instance in the form shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,297, issued to W. N. Sutliff et al on December 23, 1969 for "Automatic Self-Setting Slip-Type Steam Packer." Inflatable packers are known and available from Lynes Inc., P.O. Box 12486, Houston, Tex. 77017.